54Questions that will never be forgotten on a deck of cards that will never be discarded.

Professor Marshall Poe (U. Iowa, U. Mass.) uses the Q54Deck of cards in a course to prepare students for life after college. Students answer all the questions in writing. You can learn more here. Marshall says, “As a college professor I want to teach my students not only about the world, but also how to live in it. The Q54 Deck of cards proved to be just the tool I was looking for, and taking my students through the questions brought them to enlightenment. It was as if they suddenly “woke up” and realized what it means to live a considered life.” You can contact Marshall at: MarshallPoe@gmail.com

Go here if you would like to build a project or course around Q54 Decks.

Barry Schwartz is the Dorwin Cartwright Professor of Social Theory and Social Action at Swarthmore College He has written many best-selling books, and given numerous TED talks.

He has used the Q54 Deck with his students both at Swarthmore and as a guest lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania. He says, “There is much hand-wringing these days about whether university education is achieving its purposes and about what its purposes even are. University education should be, in large part, about answering the questions on the Q54 Deck. If students are in the same place with respect to these questions at the end of college as they were at the beginning, then college was a waste of time, no matter how much money their first post-college job is paying them. College education would be much improved if it took progress through the Q54 Deck as its explicit goal. I think a before/after assessment of student answers to the questions posed in the deck would be an excellent measure of whether college is teaching students anything worth knowing.

Dr. Rob Gilbert teaches a course for freshmen at Montclair State University on getting the most out of college. He has his Ph. D. in sports psychology and he coaches students privately both in sports and academics. You can watch an introductory video here, and you can contact him at sendmeastory@aol.com

He uses the Q54 Deck of cards in his practice and says, “Pure genius. the Q54 Deck changes lives.”

Paul Moxness Vice President Safety and Security, Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group. He bought 75 decks of cards to distribute at the office for less than the cost of dinner for four (excluding wine).

He writes, “Business leaders are often called upon to answer complex questions. The Q54 deck of cards helps us find answers to questions that are really fundamental to what our values are and how we can apply them to the complex challenges in today’s global business world. I gave a deck to each of our most senior executive team including the CEO and the response was amazing. I have given decks to my own team because they perfectly support the “Always Care” approach that is the foundation of our safety and security programme.”

F. A. Q.

Who foundedQ54Cluband why?

The idea for Q54Club began in 2005 when he began wondering what you need to know that is not taught in school. It took him seven years and hundreds of interviews to realize what should have been obvious all along:

Schools do not teach the things you really need to know.

Schools do not even have you ask the right questions.

So Brooke composed 54 questions that fit perfectly on a deck of cards. Everyone who saw a deck wanted one and soon everyone was clamoring for a place on the web where they could explore these questions and hopefully meet other people who are doing the same.

How are the questions structured?

Each suit takes you on a journey.

The Hearts begin by asking, “Who am I?” and end with a commitment to Authenticity.

The Clubs begin by asking, “Who is important?” and end with a commitment to Accountability.

The Diamonds begin by asking, “What do I need to know?” and end with a commitment to Growth.

The Spades begin by asking, “What do I want to do?” and end with a commitment to Integrity.
(And the Jokers as questions about mortality and purpose).

What problems do these 54 questions solve?

The questions solve the problem of not knowing what are the important questions, and that is 70% of the battle. But questions without answers are not good enough. You will benefit the most if you actually answer these questions, preferably in writing.

If you are in school then there is a good chance you will have a hard time transitioning to life. This is because school teaches you only how to do school, not how to do life. These 54 questions are about life. Answer them while you are still in school. Ask your parents and teachers for help.

If you are unemployed then consider this: If two people are the same in all other respects except that one has great answers to all these questions and the other does not, then which one would you hire? If you are unemployed and not in school then you finally have the time you need to address these really important questions. Hooray – now get to it.

If you are not the person you want to be then these questions will help you develop a robust philosophy of life that will guide your thoughts and actions. If you do not see the benefit of knowing the answers to these questions then find someone who does and ask them if it is worth knowing.

How do I use these questions?

If you have one of our decks then use them every time you play cards. You won’t even have to do any work; the questions will seep into your subconscious and every so often you will wake up with an amazing insight.

You can tackle the questions systematically. Try this:

Go through all the questions once and remove the ones that nobody should ever ask themselves ever. You can ignore these.

Divide the rest of the questions into three piles: Easy, Medium, and Hard.

Answer ONE Easy question.

When you are done with an Easy question, try a Hard one, and if that doesn’t work, try a Medium one, and if you still can’t do it, tackle another Easy one. Never give up; hard questions get easier with practice.

Ask for as much help from as many people as possible.

Don’t try to get a perfect answer the first time.

Plagiarism is fine. If someone else has a perfect answer for you then copy it; you do not even need to give credit. It doesn’t matter if someone else had your words before you. What counts is whether you live by your words once you make them yours.

Where should I put my answers?

Thinking you can answer a question is not the same as answering it, and answering it in writing is not the same as answering it in your head. WRITE YOUR ANSWERS DOWN.

You can download a workbook from our Resources Page and record your answers there.

How can I use Q54Club in my school or business?

You may use this website and the cards any way you want.

Educators have used it as a basis for classes on school-life transitioning, the psychology of happiness, decision making, marketing, and philosophy – and that’s just so far.

Career couches, guidance counselors, and psychotherapists have used them with their clients.

Conference organizers have created custom printed decks to give to attendee.

They make excellent corporate gifts, or to celebrate special events like graduations, weddings, etc.

The cards can be customized for orders of 150 or more.

… Use your imagination.

You may buy cards in bulk and re-sell them as fundraisers, You can even make a profit reselling cards if you wish. If you want to design your own cards based on our questions we are happy to license you to do that. Learn more on our Shop page.